About

Our Story

Antithesis was born when Renée Lacroix and Zahra Ash-Harper, two Master students from the acclaimed London College of Fashion, met during a talk entitled 'How To Start-Up in Fashion'. Zahra, with a philosophy degree and experience working in communications, was looking for a partner to design a multi-functional womenswear range. Renée, a designer and pattern cutter, had always dreamt of launching her own ethical fashion label. We decided to combine both elements and named it Antithesis!

Nowadays, most of us have hectic lifestyles. In addition to our day job, we need to juggle around love, friends, family whilst staying in shape and looking great. We often find ourselves wearing three different roles in the same day, yet being limited to one outfit only. Antithesis was created to help busy women like us make the transition between day and night, casual and formal, weekday and weekend.

Antithesis is a slow fashion label offering contemporary garments to professional women. We design, develop and manufacture transeasonal, high-quality womenswear collections made in the UK. Either reversible, transformable or modular, every piece we make is versatile and can be worn in many different ways. Blouses become sleeveless, blazers turn into waistcoats, modular dresses zip and unzip to different attachments. Our collections are more than merely stylish and practical pieces: they contribute to a new consumerism philosophy advocating quality over quantity.

After incubating for about 8 months, we launched Antithesis in September 2012. So far we have developed a range of 24 styles divided into two collections. We produce every style in small quantities before putting them up on our online store. We also organise regular events such as pop-up shops to promote our label, meet potential customers and allow them to try our pieces and play with their multi-functional aspect before buying. We have also just started offering a private fitting party service as part of our Kickstarter campaign (currently only available to Londoners - sorry!).

For our third collection, we are designing a series of modular accessories (sleeves, waistbands, attachments) to go alongside our existing pieces. We want to encourage our customers to update their wardrobe without having to buy whole new garments. The funding we get from this campaign will finance the cost of materials, manufacturing, promotion (photoshoots & events) as well as overheads such as studio rent.

Our Values

-Sourcing: We aim to source our materials as local as possible. We buy UK-made materials whenever possible and source the rest from neighbouring countries such as France, Italy and Switzerland. As a start-up brand, we do not have the capacity to reach minimums for production so we often buy end of rolls and dead-stock fabrics.

-Manufacturing: All our products are manufactured in the UK. We work with two factories based in London which we visit frequently. When choosing a manufacturer, we opt for factories employing highly-skilled machinists and offering good living wages and safe working conditions.

-Transparency: We aim to have a supply chain that is as transparent as possible. We like trading directly from their suppliers: it helps us knowing where our materials come from and in which conditions they were made.

-Versatility: We design our garments to be versatile and practical. For example, all our garments contain pockets. We believe garments should be designed with as much consideration as any other products and that ultimately, multi-functional clothing will help fight over-consumption.

-Durability: Our garments are developed without regard to seasons or trends, meaning they can be worn all year round and will not feel outdated within a few years. Made from high-quality fabric & trims, they are made to last, on both a physical and an emotional level.

Our Rewards

Have a look at our exciting rewards and pledge for the item you like the most. For more information on any of our pieces, visit our webstore for full product description and pictures. We warmly thank you for your time, your interest and your encouragement. Once you have made your pledge, please don't forget to SHARE this page with your friends & family!

If you are not completely satisfied with the item you pledged for, we're sorry to hear that, however, simply return the item to us in its original unused condition within 14 days of receipt. We will happily exchange it for an item of the same value or give you your pledge back. Please note that tote bags & t-shirts cannot be exchanged or refunded.

The cost of returning the item to us is your responsibility. Therefore for your own protection we recommend that you send the parcel using a delivery service that insures you for the value of the goods. Delivery charges are only refundable where goods are faulty and a refund is made.

Risks and challenges

Being an independent, self-funded label is not easy. Even though we are highly motivated, talented and hard-working, there are always risks involved when setting up a business for the first time. Contrarily to most fashion labels, who wholesale their products to retailers, therefore only produce to order, we have chosen to skip the wholesale step and sell directly to customers. This model allows us to have sustainable margins, whilst offering high quality products at a very fair retail price. However, this means we need to actively promote ourselves in order to raise awareness and reach our market. We truly hope that this Kickstarter campaign will help not only to raise the funds needed to get going but also to promote our label to a wider audience.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £100 or more
About $154

Antithesis Party: We will come to your place with nibbles, refreshments and the entire Antithesis range for a private demo where you and your friends will be able to shop in the comfort of your home. (Must be located within London zones 1-2)